This time it hits home more than ever with me. One of the soldiers has a child with, and is engaged to my cousin.
This project has always been very personal to me, but sending Pat off to the war in Afghanistan and sharing the pain my cousin feels as he leaves, is even more personal than this originally set out to be.
When this project tugged at my heart and started to become my priority, my cousin hadn't even met Pat yet. I had no connection with the military at all - I just felt strongly that the soldiers who put their lives on the line needed to be commemorated in a lasting and special way.
In only a few short years, many more soldiers have died, and my cousin met, fell in love with, and had a child with an Edmonton soldier. They are scheduled to be married on the base in June of 2010, when Pat returns from Afghanistan.
Along with Pat, many other soldiers will board a bus bound for the Edmonton International Airport, where they will then board a plane bound for Afghanistan.
These soldiers believe in what they are going there to do and they want to do what they were trained for, but one can only imagine that deep beneath their courageous exteriors there is a fear of what they will face when they get there and also whether they will return home to their mothers, wives, husbands, children and other family members.
I commend their bravery and their commitment and my greatest hope is that all the prayers that Canadians will be saying for them in the coming months will keep them strong, uplifted and safe from harm.
Godspeed!
- Susan Abma
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